Sulaimon BrownHoo boy, was this a bomb that dropped late on Saturday night: the Washington Post article in which our favorite former mayoral candidate, Sulaimon Brown, alleged all kinds of things against Mayor Vince Gray and his administration. Brown told the Post he struck a deal with the campaign of Mayor Gray to continue his attacks on incumbent Adrian Fenty in exchange for cash and a city job if Gray won.
Brown supplied emails, phone records, and text messages to back his claim that two separate Gray staffers — first campaign chairman Lorraine Green and then campaign consultant Howard Brooks — regularly gave him cash for his attacks on Fenty during the mayoral race. Brown alleges that the cash counted in the thousands, not the hundreds, and that he spent it as soon as he got it so he doesn’t have an exact count. Green and Brooks both deny the allegations.
Brown goes on to say his agreement with Gray and his staff included a city job for him and his brother if Gray won the election. While the records Brown supplied don’t back up his claims about getting paid for being disruptive during the mayoral race — the best he can supply is records that he spoke with Green and Brooks — his text messages seem to back up his claim about the job.
One text from Gray’s number reads:
Your position is an outrage. I am not even in office yet. The things you said are outrageous and there is no excuse for that. You know as well as I do that . . . we did not renege on any commitments to you. You know and we know what agreements had been reached. And none has been breached.
And another:
I have told you and Lorraine has told you we intend to carry out our commitment. Yet, nothing we say ever seems enough.
Gray says the only promise he made with Brown was to get him a job interview. Well you know the rest of the story.
